ON World’s recently completed survey with 1,000+ U.S. online adult consumers found that smart lighting is the most popular home automation product area with 1 in 5 likely to purchase a smart LED light bulb within the next two years.

Smart lighting tops the list of most likely smart home products, according to a recently completed survey by global technology research firm ON World. 

“With dozens of available products and costs dropping rapidly, smart lighting has quickly become the most popular smart home application,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.  “Consumer interest in smart LED light bulbs has increased dramatically and this has benefited smart home automation and control systems providers.”

ON World’s April 2015 consumer survey with 1,000+ U.S. consumers found that 1 in 5 either already own or are likely to buy smart wireless LED light bulbs within the next two years.  This survey response is two times higher than smart thermostats and smart appliances.  ON World’s survey also found that 29% would be willing to pay $20 or more for a smart wireless LED light bulb.

From ON World’s analysis of 257 smart lighting products and 20,000 consumer reviews, adoption for smart LED light bulbs increased by 30 times between 2012 and 2014.  The ratio of positive to negative reviews is increasing with the highest ratio of positive reviews for smart light bulbs, dimmers and products using ZigBee, Z-Wave and Bluetooth.  Due to growing demand for smart LED light bulbs, ratings for products using ZigBee increased the fastest with 238% more in 2014 compared with 2013.

ZigBee smart lighting products include the Philips Hue and Lux, Osram’s Lightify product line, GE Link, Cree Connected, smart bulbs by Belkin and LG, a remote controller by Lutron and smart home hubs by Quirky and SmartThings.  Although ZigBee currently has the largest market share, the number of Bluetooth smart bulbs is growing faster and Bluetooth is used in 80% of crowd-funded smart lighting products.  In addition, WiFi smart bulbs are available from LIFX and Sengled.

Smart lighting products are increasingly being integrated with sensors and cameras to provide expanded and additional Internet of Things applications.  For example, the latest smart LED bulb offerings are integrating audio for entertainment and cameras for security applications such as facial recognition. 

Shipments of all smart wireless lighting products will reach 400 million by 2019.  Smart LED light bulbs will make up the majority of the shipments at this time.

ON World’s recently published report, Smart Wireless Lighting Ecosystem, includes the full survey results for two surveys with consumers and vendors, an in-depth evaluation of 250+ smart lighting products and 20,000 consumer reviews, and key research highlights from Smart Wireless Lighting.  Both reports are included in a multi-user license or each may be purchased separately.

More information and a free executive summary is available from ON World’s website.